Senior police authorities in this city announced on Friday that the UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had discovered Khalistan connections among three suspects detained in Ayodhya on Thursday, three days prior to the “Pran Pratishtha” ritual.
According to the official, suspicions about the three intensified after a voicemail left by leaders of Khalistan made its way onto certain Lucknow residents’ cell phones. There was a male voice on the recorded message. A man posing as the terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, addressed chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the message, claiming that the consecration of the Ram Temple would not save him and that Sikh for Justice (SFJ), a US-based organisation that supports Punjab’s secession from India, would hold the UP CM accountable on January 22.
The source stated that the recorded communication also revealed the arrest of two members of the SFJ from Ayodhya.
Ajit Kumar Sharma, Pradeep Puniya, and Shankar Dussad, also known as Shankar Jajod, are Rajasthan residents, according to UP Police Director General (DG) Prashant Kumar. He stated that Ajit Kumar Sharma lived in the Jhunjhunu district, while Shankar Dussad and Pradeep Puniya resided in the Sikar district.
He added that Dussad had communication with Pannun via another arms smuggler operating out of Canada, Lakhbir Singh Sandhu, also known as Landa. According to him, Dussad was instructed by the Khalistan authorities to visit Ayodhya and create a map of the location. According to him, Dussad and his two accomplices were apprehended on Thursday during the car’s inspection in front of the Trimurti Hotel in Ayodhya.
According to Kumar, Dussad disclosed that he had enlisted the assistance of two of his associates to carry out a reconnaissance of Ayodhya and create a map. The officers added that the three were still being questioned and that Dussad had placed the saffron flag on the SUV to prevent police from suspecting them.
According to the ATS inspectors, Dussad had two distinct identity documents found on him. According to an ATS official, Dussad was using a SIM card in the name of Dharamveer Mahala, and the registration documents for his SUV were also fake.
In a news release, ATS officials provided additional information, stating that Dussad was freed on bail from Central Jail, Bikaner, on May 15, 2023, following his incarceration for more than seven years, beginning on March 21, 2016.
During his stay in Bikaner Jail, they claimed, Dussad made connections with Khalistani organisations. He met Lakhbinder Singh, a prisoner, who asked him to meet his nephew Pumma. Through Pumma, he was able to get in contact with Sukhdool Singh Gill, also known as Sukha Duneke, a prominent Khalistani figure based in Canada. Sukha Duneke was shot and killed in September 2023 by unidentified assailants. He claimed that Dussad was using WhatsApp to communicate with Landa and Duneke.
According to ATS officers, Dussad was a close associate of the late, well-known mobster Rajendra Jaat, who was assassinated in December 2022 in front of his Sikar, Rajasthan, home by five gunmen. Dussad then assumed leadership of Jaat’s group. According to them, Dussad had a lengthy criminal history, with about seven complaints against him having been filed in several Rajasthani regions between 2007 and 2014. In 2011, Ram Krishna Sihag, the chief of the Congress youth wing, was killed, and in 2014, Balveer Banuda, a prisoner in Bikaner Jail, was also killed.
In the meantime, ahead of the massive ceremony on January 22, the police in Ayodhya have increased vehicle checks and watch throughout the town to prevent any unfortunate incident.
Additionally, directives to increase monitoring have been issued statewide following the widespread success of the English-language recorded voice messages on social media.
